Plan Executed

The duo enter Sarr'vuln's hut and stand in the middle of it silently as the large man sits in his chair... He seems to be ruminating about what to say, but it was clear to all that he was absolutely livid.

"Why?" eventually asks, not specifying what he was referring to.

"Because-" Luca tries to explain but is interrupted by Sarr'vuln.

"NOT YOU! DAUGHTER! WHY DID YOU GO AGAINST MY WISHES, AGAIN!" he roars, slamming his hand down on a nearby table and causing it to collapse.

Sarr'ina continues to stare at her father with a defiant glare, "Because you are not always right father! There are things you cannot see, or will not see. We killed the monster for the good of the tribe!"

"What good would come from slaying that thing!?" he asks in a low tone, a frown marring in his features.

Sarr'ina glances at Luca and he nods, "That monster had laid eggs, if it was left alone soon creatures similar to it would begin taking over the forests. It was hard enough to kill the one, I can't imagine fighting more than that." he quickly explains, not letting the man know of his other plans.

Sarr'vuln seems to take this answer, it wasn't incorrect either, it just wasn't their intended reason for being there. It seemed like he wanted to scold them further, but once he imagined huge toad-like creatures invading the tribe, he knew that they'd probably made the right decision... Regardless, even if that was so, he couldn't allow them to circumvent him on important matters such as this.

"You... Why did you not tell me of this threat?" he asks.

"If we did, you would not listen father! We did not know if you would imprison us and prevent us from eliminating it." Sarr'ina quickly replies.

Sarr'vuln shakes his head, "If this happens again, tell me, I will listen and make my own decision on it. You must remember that you are still my daughter, I will not have you dying for something unimportant." he states before turning to Luca, "And you. What are your intentions towards Sarr'ina."

...

Cold sweat begins to drip down Luca's back, "Er, what?"

Sarr'vulns eyes bore into him, "What, are your intentions towards MY daughter!?" he asks more forcefully this time, Sarr'ina attempts to interrupt them but he silences her with a gesture.

"I... Only have the best intentions..." he tries to answer diplomatically, but could see Sarr'vuln getting angrier the more he avoided the question. Sighing to himself, he decided to just say it outright, "I am interested in Sarr'ina." he states, the girl blushing red next to him.

"And is this your way of proving yourself? Putting my daughter and my hunters at risk?" Sarr'vuln asks.

Luca shakes his head, "No, I told you why I went earlier, to stop those monsters from spreading."

...

Sarr'vuln grumbles to himself momentarily, "This is not enough, you will need to prove yourself worthy of my daughter if you wish to pursue her. I am sick of looking at you, leave." he states, waving at Luca who'd only now realised he was getting blood on the man's pelts.

"Not you." Sarr'vuln states as Sarr'ina tries to get up and follow him, seems like he wanted to speak with her alone.

Luca left the hut and was immediately surrounded by people, questions rained in about how he'd killed the beast, if he was scared, and many other similar ones. He did his best to answer them but eventually got fed up and hid in his hut. He was already well-reputed due to him killing the bear that invaded the village, as well as his escape from the Karaskir, but now it was on a whole other level... There was physical evidence of him slaying a "mythical" creature, he'd be surprised if the other tribes didn't hear about it eventually.

A celebration is thrown but due to the conflict with the Karaskir, it was limited to just dancing and singing. Sarr'ina joined him after talking with her father, a satisfied smirk on her face that only seemed to get wider every time she looked in Sarr'vulns direction.

Luca didn't dare ask what they'd been talking about, deciding to let it be a future surprise... Hopefully, it was a positive one.

His relationship with Das'ju had done a 180 as well apparently, their original squabbling was over "courting" Sarr'ina but the man seemed to have given up after seeing how close the duo were. It was a good change in Luca's opinion, once he got to know the man he seemed pretty chill, albeit a bit competitive.

The next day his muscles hurt from having to arm wrestle him, he lost of course, but it didn't really matter. The tribe believed that strength also lied in your spirit, not just your body.

Sarr'ina wasn't allowed out of the village for a couple weeks under her father's orders, but there was no such rule for Luca. Once he got a chance, he immediately headed for the Cursed Waters, his plan of taking the poisonous creatures and dousing the traps was underway, though, he needed to re-test which frog and toad did what... It wouldn't do to simply paralyse the Karaskir, he needed them dead. Fearing to tread even an inch into Sua'jiki territory.

Next to the cursed waters he climbed a relatively large tree and strung up any creatures he caught, this would be his poison supply as once he harvested the deadly puss-like poison it'd only last a couple of days before it became inert... As such, he'd need a ready supply to keep applying to the traps.

It was fortunate he'd been taught about how the Sua'jiki laid traps, otherwise, he might've stepped on some when he was looking for them. Tree's had the sides facing the village marked, and the traps laid in the direction the mark indicated, though, to prevent the enemy from figuring this out there were a few non-descript additions that'd imply the traps were on the otherside.

Luca went around smearing all the traps with poison, he'd tested it and if only a bit got into your bloodstream you'd die in an hour or less. The time was dependent on the person bodyweight and how fast their blood was circulating.

It didn't really matter if they knew they'd been poisoned though, there wasn't any cure he knew of that could save them, and medicine among the tribes was incredibly poor. The only thing that may help would be Sarr'ina's strange healing magic... He doubted she'd help those bastards though.